Vindication: An Arena of Honor Story | Season 5 Round 6

Hello everyone! Welcome, welcome. Once more I (Lord FrankTU) join [STL] INFURNO and his team to fight in the Arena of Honor. We hope to overturn our recent streak of losses. If you want to read more about the last match, which ended with us losing 1st place at the very last second, click the link: Denied: An Arena of Honor Story | Season 5 Round 5.

Last match's close defeat had left a lasting effect on our morale. But it also meant that we were improving. Our speed to reinforce castles had been good. This time we hope to get the rallies working. Come, let us dive into battle!

Chapter 1: Three Great Houses

The House of the Dragons decided to place their trust in this team. As I went through the list of combatants, I noticed that two players stood out from the rest. [tuf] ROnin (an infantry player) and [s77] sugus56 (a spear player) appeared to be their rally leaders.

However, I couldn't help but feel that this team was composed of players who had joined the team randomly. No two members of the team were from the same alliance. "However, it would not help to underestimate a team on its appearance," I thought.

Along with INFURNO, the rest of the team were chosen to represent the red banners of House Lannister. A large sum of gold had been promised as reward by the House, if we won. Confidence has been at a low due our close defeat in the last match. But we were ready to fight to the end.

Once again, [FVM] sebastrus and [MSH] Anhur were chosen as rally leaders. However, this time we were joined by an old friend [NpW] PilsenChopp. He volunteered to stand in as the 3rd rally leader should the need arise.

The final house. The House of the Wolves. This team was unique. The team appeared to include 6 accounts of the same player. All 10 players were from the same alliance [VMD] ValourMagoulisDahari. All the players seemed to be of the same troop type, Infantry.

I tried to identify a rally leader from them, but each and every account seemed capable of handling the job. The team could either establish a strong infantry defense at Glory City, or the player managing 6 accounts would feel overwhelmed and the team would fail. I secretly hoped that it was the latter.

Chapter 2: New and Improved Plans

This time we made a few changes to our strategy. The three steps were the same, but the level of importance changed. The capture of the faction cities was the most important step. The catapults and the towers came second. The Glory is the final step and the least important one.

The reason for changing the hierarchy of importance is that we had fought to the end in several matches without the Glory City. Sure, the points could easily be less than what we would earn if we held the glory city. However, we had seen that in the past matches we often held three or more faction cities. This strategy had given us the opportunity to gain a lot of points from the large mines compared to the other factions.

Furthermore, the glory city had proven to be a tough challenge. Many opponents had taken the city before us and had held it with a strong bow defense. At this point we were tired of fighting losing battles for the Glory city. We came to the agreement that if our first few attacks failed, we would shift our focus towards the large and small mines.

Chapter 3: Initial Success

Just as we had expected, we held the Baratheon Faction city within 3 minutes. sebastrus quickly sent commanders to support the defense. The others rushed to send their troops. Soon the important altars would open, diverting our focus on them. So, we had to get it right at this very moment.

To my disappointment, the Targaryens and the Starks were able to capture the Tyrell and Greyjoy Faction cities, respectively. Our goal of capturing 3 cities had been delayed. This problem did not leave a feeling of confidence in me. A very small number of points had made us lose last time. We could not afford to lose 2 minutes' worth of points. We would have to make amends elsewhere to counter the losses here.

However, while I was setting up outposts and sending reinforcements to upgrade them, I noticed a green flicker on the right side of the screen. I looked over to the map. To my pleasant surprise, the Tyrell faction has successfully rebelled against the Targaryen defense. This development was good for us. Even if we didn't take it, at the very least the Targaryens would not benefit either. Though the step had not been completed, I had a slight smile as I returned to focus on the altars.

Chapter 4: Catapults and Towers

Once again the towers were hard to capture. The Targaryens took the closest tower blocking our path. The Starks failed to capture theirs. This would mean that the Targaryens would get free points. However, just as before, the Tyrells defeated the Targaryens. This was good for our team for 2 reasons. We could test if the Tyrell's defense would be countered by ours, and the second reason would be that the Targaryens would fall down the ladder even more than before.

However, we had to adhere to Newton's third law. For every lucky event there would be an equally unlucky event. Despite our luck with the Tyrells defeating the Targaryens, the Targaryen army had successfully captured the 3rd tower before the Starks could. The Targaryen army had marched before the Tyrell success. I was annoyed. But I carried on. Soon the catapults opened, and I pounced on the opportunity to change our castle's attack order. However, as luck would have it, the Starks had the same idea. The Starks took one, and we captured another.

However, they were stronger than us. They quickly took all 3 catapults and the towers. I was unhappy. The Starks were our primary opponents, and we had lost the catapults to them. If we capture the city, it would be costly to defend. We had to capture the third faction city. It was important. However, I was slightly confident with our chances of success in that. We had defeated the Tyrells in the towers. The same could be said for the castle.

Chapter 5: To Laugh or Not to Laugh

I attacked several altars and took back those we lost. I began to check our altars to see if we were still having the necessary ones. I continued to check the outposts that we took from the Baratheon faction. I took a look at the Baratheon castle to check defenses. Wait a minute. The Baratheons had counterattacked! sebastrus defense had failed. I rushed to check the report. What had happened?

When I saw the report, I burst out laughing. sebastrus had defeated sebastrus. I quickly controlled myself and notified the team. We rushed to attack the defense. sebastrus once more prepared to take it. This time I readied myself to send more bows. The defense had failed due to the lack of bow troops.

However, we were not quick enough. The Baratheons captured their city. Ah, not again. We couldn't be 2nd again. We still had a 20,000-point lead, but we could lose that within minutes. The Glory city would open soon. I called back armies that had bows and cavalry. I needed to support both sebastrus and Anhur.

Chapter 6: Glory City

Quickly two rallies were made. I joined both. Unlike last time, sebastrus had a near-full rally of bows. Since we had deduced that the Starks were infantry, we decided to send Anhur second. The starks were once more faster. They took Glory City. So we had to go on the offensive. Both sebastrus and Anhur sent their rallies. We waited patiently for the result. 

Both the rallies had failed. Despite having a full bow rally, sebastrus had not done good damage. Anhur's rally performed better, however his rally had spear troops that were at the front. Therefore the infantry defeated the spear troops, resulting in higher losses.

However, all hope was not lost. The cavalry still had a chance. Anhur rushed to make a second rally. I began to make another rally in hopes that my cavalry would soften the defenses for Anhur.

Chapter 7: Win or Lose

Just as I opened the rally, I noticed the successful capture of the Tyrell City. I quickly canceled my rally and sent my commanders. This could help us hold onto our lead for longer. These are vital points that could turn the tide of the battle. The Glory city would be theirs for now. We could take the mines.

Immediately I noticed that we had also captured the Baratheon city once more. sebastrus quickly called back his army from his failed rally and sent it to defend the city.

We now held two mines. All players knew what to do. We captured the 3 large mines and sent reinforcements to mine faster. They had reduced the point difference to 10,000, but we were not going to let go. I could not help but have a sense of deja vu. We had done the same in the past few matches and had lost the lead in the last few minutes. However, this time we were good. We kept the 10,000-point lead and dragged the match to the small mines. 14 minutes were left. Time was flowing too slowly.

Chapter 8: Despair

Suddenly I saw a report. Defeat. I rushed to check the Tyrell city. I still help it. But I nervously opened the reports. Yes, we had failed. My army had not participated in the battle, but the defense had failed. There was almost no cavalry. Only the spear defense. I was a cavalry player. The next attack would surely fail. I desperately messaged my allies to send cavalry. But before they could reach them, the Tyrell faction members sent solo attacks. I lost the city...

Once more we would lose the battle because of me. Guilt crushed my spirit. I had failed to notice that the defense had no cavalry. I should have asked INFURNO to lead. He was a spear player. Once more my judgement had failed. And once more we would lose. To add fuel to the fire, the Targaryens defeated the Tyrell defense and captured the city. We might not even finish 2nd. All because of me...

Chapter 9: Strong Leadership

INFURNO tagged me in the chat. He asked me to snap out of it. We still had a lead. The small mines could make a difference. Even if we had lost the Tyrell city, we had taken the 8,000 points from the mines. We still had a 10,000-point lead. If the Starks had one player managing six accounts, he would not be able to capture the mines as quickly as we could. My commanders were available, unlike the other rally leaders. So I needed to focus no matter how angry I was with myself.

Quickly we rushed to take the small mines. The Starks and the Targaryens barely contested our attacks. We held more than one half of the mines. I noticed that the Baratheon castle countered the Starks in the towers. I quickly directed both castles to attack the towers and the catapults.

To my surprise we were actually increasing the gap! We had a 10,000-point difference, and now it was 15,000! I watched as the minutes went by: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. We still had the 15,000 lead. INFURNO had converted all the outposts to trading posts in the last 2 minutes. He had planned this.

We had finally won. Oh my God! I was jubilant. This was incredible. We had finally won after 4 matches. I had not ruined our chances. I was happy beyond words. I sat still for a few minutes, taking it all in.

Chapter 10: Lesson to Be Learned

INFURNO's strong leadership and ability to not crack under pressure had helped us to finally win. We congratulated each other. Even though we received fewer fame points than the 2nd-placed team, we were happy. It was a step in the right direction.

However many things had to change for us to truely win. I had to plan better. I discussed with INFURNO to appoint a leader for the 3rd castle based on the troops we had selected in the outpost.

We had to make many changes. Anhur has to make a pure cavalry rally in the next match. Mixed troops would only reduce our effectiveness.

But all said and done, we had finally tasted the cup of victory once more. We would learn as we had always done. We would always fight to the end. Once more Lords and Ladies, our heroes set out to conquer the world. Will they succeed? Lets find out next week. Until then goodbye!